Hydrophobic residue substitutions enhance the stability and <i>in vivo</i> immunogenicity of respiratory syncytial virus fusion protein
In this study, we demonstrate that introducing four hydrophobic residue substitutions into the RSV F protein leads to the generation of a highly stable prefusion F trimer (pre-F-IFLP) with improved expression levels in cultured cells and superior stability compared to DS-Cav1, the first-generation prefusion F-stabilized RSV vaccine. Furthermore, pre-F-IFLP induced significantly higher neutralizing antibody responses than DS-Cav1 following both the first and second booster immunizations and conferred complete protection against RSV infection in a mouse model. These findings present an alternative approach for stabilizing the trimeric prefusion F protein, enhancing its expression, and significantly improving its protective efficacy for the prevention of RSV infection <i>in vivo</i>.
Authors
- Haixia Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4410-9257)
- Yueyue Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-4514-1600)
- Wen‐Cai Ye (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2810-1001)
- Hwei-Ling Cheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6100-748X)
- Qiao‐Yun Song
- Wentao Shen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-9148-7242)
- Jialiao Cai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-2491-3668)
- Ying Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4524-1812)
- Wei Tang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1990-4558)
- Yaolan Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5045-5749)
- Haoyue Zhu
- Yun Hu
- M F Qiu
Institutions
- Jinan University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Virology
- Published
- 2025-05-28
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1128/jvi.00087-25
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Respiratory viral infections research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.71
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
- Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation of Guangdong Province